New Zealand's Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams made a bold start to their title defence in the Star fleet at the world yachting championships in Portugal today.
They recorded third and first placings in two races to share the overall lead with France in Cascais.
The Star andTornado fleets were the first to take to the water for the championships, and the defending Star world champions wasted little time showing their intentions.
The two are sailing together in a major event for the first time this season, after Williams devoted his energies to Oracle Racing's ultimately failed America's Cup campaign in Spain.
They are contesting arguably the strongest class, with a swag of former Olympic medallists among the 63-strong fleet.
"Since the America's Cup we have been rekindling our boat handling and teamwork," Pepper said.
"It's an easy transition because Carl is incredibly talented at jumping from boat to boat."
Conditions were cloudy and shifty today but Pepper and Williams made solid gains by taking advantage of the favoured right-hand side of the course.
Frenchmen Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambaeu share the lead with the New Zealanders.
The other New Zealand pair in the Star, Rohan Lord and Miles Addy, started with a 23rd placing, but improved to finish fifth in the second race to lie 25th overall.
The Stars are scheduled to sail another four races in the next two days before a rest day, following which the 63 entries will be split into gold and silver fleets.
The leading New Zealand Tornado crew were Brett Sellers and Bruce Kendall, who are 31st overall after two races.
Others in the two-handed catamaran class are David Shaw and Susan Shaw in 38th, and Paul Francis and Aaron Duncan in 49th.
